Who do you Feed?

John R. Houk

© April 24, 2015

My lovely wife shared a jpg that has an amazing Cherokee parable of wisdom on it. BUT before that parable I want to share the train of thought the parable brought to mind.

So let me start with the first man Adam. Without going into all the relevant data on how Adam sold out his allegiance and devotion to the Creator of all that exists allow me to begin with the fact that Adam rejected the Command of God not to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. As soon as Adam participated in that consuming fruit from that tree he transferred the authority given to him by the Creator to the Father of Lies – Satan - who had disguised himself as an enticing serpent. Once that authority was transferred to Satan then Adam died just as God told him he would. Death in this sense was eternal separation from God Almighty’s constant Presence and taking the nature of the Satan – Liar, Covetous, Murder, Selfishness, and Wicked Desires and so on. This is known as the Fallen Nature that Adam has bequeathed in spiritual DNA to all his descendants.

Thank God provided a Promise that bondage to a sin nature would not remain forever:

¹⁴ So the Lord God said to the serpent:

“Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.¹⁵ And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.” (Bold Text Mine - Genesis 3: 14-15 NKJV)

In God’s curse to Satan for instigating Adam’s Fall is a Promise that a child born of a woman will grow up and stomp on Satan’s head. Christians know this Promise is of a Savior to restore humanity to the Presence of God ending the eternal-death separation.

Fast forwarding to the Savior Jesus Christ the son of Mary in the flesh and the Son of God in Divinity. Jesus paid the debt for Adam’s betrayal with his sinless life. God the Father raised His Son to life after three days in a tomb in a new glorified nature which transform all humanity who simply trust in the Resurrection and live the Righteous life taught by Jesus during three years of pre-Resurrection Ministry of telling humanity the kingdom of God is near.

Although finding Jesus oft leads to a release of ecstatic joy realizing the Presence of God is a mere belief away, one finds out soon enough that the only thing Redeemed is one’s human nature. A Believers’ inner man or inner woman becomes a New Creation in Christ Jesus. Christ has not yet Redeemed the earth and physical existence. For humanity that physical nature is the Old Man (or Woman) that the New Man can dominate through faith in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. There is only one way for the New Man to dominate and essentially eliminate the Old Man. That is to feed the New Man on the Presence of God in Spirit and Truth. Truth is the Word of God which is Jesus Christ the Risen Savior to those who believe.

1 ¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend^[a] it.

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1: 1-5, 14 NKJV)

²¹ if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: ²² that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, ²³ and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴ and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4: 21-24 NKJV)

The point I am working up two Redeemed humanity contends with two inner natures. One is bad and one is good. The Word of God says the Redeemed inner New Man overcomes and does away with the Old Man. BUT that is not an automatic. The automatic is only realized at Christ’s Second Coming. Until then Righteousness triumphs over unrighteousness by practicing Righteousness. The Cherokee Wolf Parable is a good clue for Christians to live Righteousness.

JRH 4/24/15

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¹³ Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. ¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. ¹⁵ For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. ¹⁶ If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. ¹⁷ But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. ¹⁸ For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. ¹⁹ For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. ²⁰ Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

²¹ I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.²² For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. ²³ But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴ O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵ I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. (Romans 7: 13-25 NKJV)

Feed Righteousness and you will be Righteous

¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! ¹⁶ Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? ¹⁷ But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. ¹⁸ And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. ¹⁹ I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.

²⁰ For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.²¹ What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. ²² But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6: 15-23 NKJV)

Don’t Listen to Atheists – God is Love

John R. Houk

© June 6, 2011

Some atheists go to great lengths to find snippets of the Bible or physical science to disprove the existence of God Almighty. I am one that believes that if the Old and New Testament are taken as a whole there is a harmonious explanation to be found. If one chooses to set to find disharmony they will find it easily. Believers seeking harmony will find harmony. Unbelievers seeking disharmony will find disharmony. Seek and you shall is the principle.

Here is a video that atheists like to show with the belief that the God of the Bible is not a God of love or perhaps does not exist at all:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QduJ121DBXU

LOL I don't even have to watch the entire video to answer this. God is love because of the promise in Genesis 3: 14-15.

14 So the LORD God said to the serpent:
“ Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.

15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”

Adam fell and turned man into a fallen nature and the earth into a twisted nature because Adam’s stewardship was transferred to the prince of deception that old serpent Satan – aka the adversary.

What is the reason for suffering, natural disasters, and all matters of evil that God is wrongly accused of causing? It is the Fall of Adam.

What is the solution? The Redemptive act of Jesus Christ who emptied Himself of his Divine attributes to become a man not stained with the Adam’s Fall because a part of His DNA was God. Divine DNA trumps human DNA. The LOVE is in that God did not start all over by destroying the rebellious creation and starting over. Furthermore as the centuries passed on, man became more and more corrupt and the earth more and more twisted and awaiting for the promise of Genesis 3:15.

That promise is partially fulfilled in the death, burial and Resurrection of Jesus Christ paying the penalty of Adam’s rebellious Fall. That which is Redeemed is the human spirit. The human mind, body and the Earth await Full Redemption that begins with Christ’s Parousia (i.e. 2^nd Coming). The end of the BOOK tells us that Full Redemption does not arrive until Satan has been secured after his last deception upon humanity after the 1,000 year reign of Christ on Earth. Then the ravaged old Earth is changed into the New Earth and the old Heaven is changed into the New Heaven and man and Earth discover FULL Redemption.

The suffering of the Old Testament is the result of Adam’s Fall and a Fallen nature. The promise of Genesis 3: 15 is the demarcation line that divides fallen humanity that results in the blood line that the last child of Promise would be born to begin the Redemption of Christ bruising the Old Serpents head with the Lord’s feet. That bruising began with the unseen battle between Jesus and Satan between the Lord’s death and the Lord’s Resurrection.

17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1: 17 – 23 NKJV)

1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2: 1 – 7; 19 – 22 NKJV)

11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. (Colossians 2: 11 – 15 NKJV)

1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore He says:

“ When He ascended on high,
He led captivity captive,
And gave gifts to men.”

9 (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)

17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; 19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

20 But you have not so learned Christ, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4: 1 – 9; 17 – 24 NKJV)

These verses catch up with the reason evil things happen with a loving God. God is Love and that Love is evidenced of Him emptying the Divine attributes to suffer the same as a man by becoming man and then redeeming to be back on the path to union with God. All that is left is the future of Full Redemption.

1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

 
6 And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. 7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. (Revelation 21: 1 – 7 NKJV)

I know the next criticism from unbelievers is that the Bible is a collection of old myths; However at this point that argument is irrelevant because the whole basis of this response is because of the YouTube video that enjoys utilizing Scriptures out of the context of the Plan of Redemption to prove the premise that God is not a loving God. Ergo, according to the video, God is either non-existent or a lying higher been that is actually evil. This short version of the Plan of Redemption shows the person behind the dialogue to be a deceiver or a deluded individual according the Scriptures chosen.

JRH 6/6/11